P/C Direct Premium Written Up 4.7 Percent in 2017

Direct premium written (DPW) for property/casualty insurance companies continues to increase, albeit gradually. At year-end 2016, more than $607 billion of DPW was reported. For 2017, total DPW for all P/C insurers aggregately increased 4.7 percent over 2016, an increase of $28.7 billion. More than 50 percent of this premium growth is attributed to the Top 25 P/C insurers in terms of growth.

For the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2017, P/C companies comprising the Top 25 insurers leveraged their experience and increased their DPW nearly 12.3 percent over 2016, or $14.5 billion. In contrast, the remainder of the industry reported an increase in DPW of 2.9 percent, or $14.2 billion, year-over-year.

It is important to note that while increasing DPW, P/C companies have aggregately maintained a sufficient level of policyholders’ surplus (PHS). One measure that indicates P/C companies are conservatively leveraged is the DPW to PHS ratio. An insurer’s DPW to PHS ratio is indicative of its premium leverage on a direct basis, without considering the effect of reinsurance. Since 2010, this ratio for P/C companies has remained stable at approximately 70 percent.

Although the market continues to exhibit signs of firming and DPW continues to increase, P/C insurers should not expect a traditional hard market in the near future. The double-digit premium growth experienced in the historical hard market cycles may have created unrealistic premium growth expectations. It is more realistic that expectations should relate to gradual, stable growth. If the industry continues its 10-year historical pattern, growth in 2018 would again result in the highest year-end DPW ever reported by the P/C industry.